Stearns County Is Helping You Enjoy Local Parks [VIDEO]

CLEARWATER - Rock climbing, kayaking, swimming and picnicing were all apart of the Stearns County Parks Kick-Off event at Warner Lake County Park.

The event was held in coordination with the Prairie Woods Environment Learning Center.

Ben Anderson is the Stearns County Park Operation Coordinator. He says they are able to do events like this because of the grant they were awarded,

"We were lucky enough to receive a legacy grant for $200,000.00 in conjunction between Wright County and Stearns County to bring environmental education and outdoor activities into our parks."

Getting people back to the parks has been a major objective for local park operators. Anderson says sometimes technology is getting in the way of people enjoying the area parks.

"The trend we have been seeing is a lot of cell phone and a lot of social media stuff, so we are trying to get people to realize that the outdoors is still there."

The kick-off event was free and open to everyone.

This is just the first of a series of events the Stearns County Parks have planned with Prairie Woods Environment Learning Center.